The small Colorado town of Louisville, located a few miles north of Denver, was founded in 1877 as a mining town (incorporated in 1882) in an area known as the Northern Coalfield.
It was not a company town though, as there was no single large company that controlled coal mining such as was found in other coal mining areas of the country.
Meaning, of course, that Tennessee Ernie Ford would have had nothing to sing about.
There were a number of independent mines operating in Louisville, something like 30 or so, from the peak of mine production in the later half of the first decade of the 20th century until the mid 1950's.
During the late 1910's, Louisville was the site of violent conflicts between striking miners and private guards who were employed to keep the striking miners out of the mines while scabs were hired to replace them.
Now the town of almost 19,000 residents (which refers to itself as a city, but seriously, it barely qualifies as a town) has become what Family Circle magazine, CNN/Money and Money magazine have named the single best place to raise a family, and concurrently one of the best places to live in the country.
It's nice, I'll give you that. And the neighborhoods, old and new, are inhabited by some interesting, eccentric personalities (no doubt the neighboring city of Boulder has a bit to do with that).
I like neighborhoods that boast an esoteric home or two, decorated with unusual yard art or peculiar modifications to otherwise traditional tract homes, and Louisville is chock full of 'em.
Driving along Main Street in Louisville is a neat little journey through a quirky little place that combines modern office buildings with older buildings that may have once been private residences, movie theaters, garages or grocery stores and have now been re-purposed as restaurants and art gallerys, pubs, bars, antique stores or museums.
In the newer residential neighborhoods it is evident that an effort has been made to maintain a design aesthetic that melds the feel of the original small mining town with the needs of modern commuter families.
It is also evident that an artistic, creative spirit is alive and thriving in Louisville, quite a welcome relief from the blah-every-house-needs-to-be-a-shade-of-beige that most suburban tract developments exhibit in the greater Denver area.
If you are ever up in the Flatirons area near Co 36 and McCaslin Blvd (or Interlocken Loop, which becomes Northwest Parkway, but then you have to jag west to get on 96th Street before you end up in Lafayette or North Westminster), take a few hours or so to drive the 4 miles north to Louisville, have lunch in one of the nice little restaurants, read a book in the fireside reading room in the spectacular library, or pay a visit to the historic Steinbaugh Pavilion for some ice skating (in winter) or a concert (in summer).
Oh my gosh are you 5 real this is where I live bro everyday allday soulja boy my hero 6ever! #News
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